Learning the rules

I went to a new grocery store yesterday. The rules are different there though and no one warned me. You have to deposit a quarter to get a cart and there were no bags. I was blindsided and hadn’t brought my own this time. It wasn’t too big of a deal until I got home and didn’t want some of my neighbors to be offended by the ham I was bringing in, so I quickly bagged everything up to haul ten feet to our door.

It’s easy to be thrown off when the rules are suddenly different, even in our own culture. I expected different social rules when we moved out west and when I’ve visited people here from different places, but I expected the rules of a grocery store to be fairly standard (except of course in states that are banning plastic bags across all stores). How much harder must it be when the rules everywhere are new and different?

Do our rules intimidate in churches too? I overheard one person sharing how she went to a new church and realized she wasn’t taking communion the ‘right’ way. Do you all sip from the same cup… does each person get their own cup… do you all take communion at the same time… do you take and eat as you’re given… do you stay at your seat or go up to the alter…is communion taken weekly… or monthly… do you have to be a baptized believer to partake… there are so many different rules. Some of them matter to some people, others don’t see what the fuss is about. What do our different rules and divisions say to non-believers or even just first time visitors? Do we give clear expectations or are they blindsided and left feeling unprepared?

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 12, 2015 at 9:17 AM

    Good lesson! I've always been a little on guard when I take communion at a new church, because of the customs you are talking about. When you travel you have to be careful, or you can easily be considered rude. However, the travel books don't always have it correct. I remember before we went to Oman, we read something about not showing your heel. I asked several Omanies about it and they didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. Maybe the writer of the travel book put his feet somewhere they shouldn't have been, and thought the problem was because he showed his heel.

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